Division of

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center

This is an exciting time in the field of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Research advances in the fields of genetics and immunology have rendered a better understanding of the disease and offer hope to one day find a cure.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center provides specialized care for patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, contributes to the advancement of IBD research, and educates patients and healthcare professionals about IBD. The IBD Center is one of the largest in the nation, with a cohesive team of gastroenterologists and surgeons who are recognized as international experts in their respective specialties.

Directed by gastroenterologists who unite surgeons, nutritionists, radiologists, mental health specialists, and pathologists, the Center is designed provide care for the region’s significant population of patients with IBD. In addition to providing comprehensive primary care to these patients, the Center emphasizes cancer surveillance, women’s health, intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation medicine, psychosocial health and the transition of care from the pediatric to adult gastroenterologist. To maintain the highest possible standards for these specializations in the context of IBD, the Center has partnered with the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Magee Women’s Hospital, the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic and Children’s Hospital. By coordinating care across a range of specialties, the Center can provide IBD patients with “one stop shopping” for expert consultations and excellent diagnostic techniques. Thanks to this integrated approach, the IBD Center continues to attract increasingly larger numbers of patients from throughout the U.S.

Pioneering a Subspecialty Medical Home

The UPMC IBD Center is the first program in the U.S. to implement a subspecialty medical home for enhanced patient care. The Total Care-IBD program is a patient’s one stop for comprehensive IBD, internal medicine, nutrition, and psychosocial and stress relief support.

Clinical Trials

IBD Center physicians direct several multi-center, international research trials on novel IBD treatments and are respected as authorities in genetics, immunology and clinical research. Patients benefit from research advancements made by IBD Center physicians, who are among the world’s leading IBD genetics and immunology researchers.

One of six centers in the USA and Canada selected for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) IBD Genetics Consortium.

A partner in the University of Pittsburgh Autoimmunity Center of Excellence, one of the nine national centers also designated by the NIDDK to learn more about IBD immunology. The IBD Center offers the latest immunologic therapies, which may have greater success and fewer side effects compared to traditional therapies.

The IBD Center identifies patients who have not responded to traditional therapies and recommends these patients for Phase I and II pharmaceutical trials. The IBD Center has been involved in most major clinical studies of new compounds.

One of a select group of IBD programs to host a Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of American (CCFA) fellowship and preceptor. These rotations provide physician exposure to IBD in a tertiary referral center and are unique opportunities for gastroenterology fellows and community practitioners.

A leader in postoperative Crohn’s disease management and multidisciplinary care for surgical patients. UPMC research advances in post-operative IBD patient care have contributed to a paradigm shift in patient care management.

“Big data” and a prospective registry with more than one decade of patient enrollment have led to a unique understanding of the natural course of IBD with significant outcomes research.